


Resonance

by eve11



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-30
Updated: 2011-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-19 22:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/205838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eve11/pseuds/eve11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Peri have run into trouble on an alien world, or maybe they brought it upon themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resonance

**Author's Note:**

> Written for infiniteviking in the 2009 fandom stocking fic exchange.

Under a bright double moon, the Atraxian salt flats shimmered like stars. The crystal-scattered, coal black crust mirrored the night sky to such a degree that the one blemish--a shed-sized, shadowed blue box set at perfect right angles from the flats--seemed instead like a strange traveling vessel, suspended among the stars in the silence of deep space.

The fact that it was indeed a strange traveling vessel did nothing to reconcile the incongruity. But the two figures, racing hand in hand toward it across the flat, also kicked up a trail of dust to break the illusion and define the horizon in their wake. His patchwork coat was no more than a dark smudge under the moons, but in the same light her solid orange blouse seemed to glow.

The only sounds were labored breaths and footsteps grinding into the ground. Their pursuers were not yet in sight, still picking their way through the far trees. Suddenly she stopped, hands on her knees, her short dark hair falling straight around her face as she panted for breath. He pulled up short and hurried back to her, gesturing a silent _Come on!_.

Peri shook her head, but the Doctor cupped a hand to his ear and indicated the crackling, rustling noises coming from the trees. She straightened, giving him a glare and throwing her hands down in frustration before starting off again. Behind them, the first three assailants broke onto the flats, testing the air with forked tongues, their armor plates cutting into the crust as they slithered faster and faster across the salt, leveling their eye cannons at the fleeing pair.

The Doctor ran headlong for the TARDIS, aiming his key for the tiny lock and hitting it almost in stride. They fell into the console room, the Doctor shoving the door closed even as the Atraxian lasers scorched the wooden exterior. Peri took a few steps toward the sole chair in the room and collapsed bonelessly upon it in exhaustion. The Doctor stepped past her to the console, sending them into the vortex with the flick of a switch and the pull of a lever. He then turned straight back to his companion, brushing her shoulder tenderly to catch her attention. She looked up, still groggy with relief.

 _Medbay,_ he mouthed.

**

It took an hour to construct the tissue modulator and another fifteen minutes to calibrate it, but finally, the Doctor held it under his chin, letting it hum against his throat for several seconds before testing his voice out with a cough.

"Now, that's better!" he boomed, then stood up abruptly. "Honestly, the nerve of some people! Two days of seized vocal chords, and what did we do to deserve that?"

Peri fluttered her hands at her side, trying to ask a question, but the Doctor seemed intent on indignantly pacing the medbay and making up for the past two days of enforced silence. "I know the Atraxian skin is sensitive to vibrations, but really, we hardly raised our voices at all, now did we? And it's not as though they have ears!"

Peri rolled her eyes, still trying to pace the Doctor.

"Just a few arguments, hardly even spats between us, surely. And with the way the ruling clutch treated their brood-rivals, well they were just asking for a lecture. It's not as if I--"

Peri stopped, stomped her foot, and clapped her hands loudly in the room. The Doctor turned.

"--Hm?"

As calmly as she could, Peri pointed at the tissue modulator and mouthed, _My turn, Doctor!_

"Oh!" He looked down at his hands and back at her. "Yes, I thought you were being rather quiet."

The look that Peri gave him told him exactly what he could do with that modulator, if she hadn't needed it. He innocently raised an eyebrow. She frowned. He apologized with a warm smile, arms held out, and she softened. He tossed her the modulator, and she held it to her own throat.

"Finally!" Peri exclaimed to the ceiling.

The Doctor winced. "No need to shout."


End file.
